A King is Born on the Road

When Hayer opened the door to leave the room with a shaky breath, he spotted King Eswa walking down the hallway.

Hayer stretched out the middle of his forehead—which was about to crinkle—with his hand, and bowed politely.

When Eswa accepted the greeting and tried to enter the room right away, Hayer casually blocked the door and asked.

“What brings you here?”

A person who never came before.

When Hayer asked, hiding his words, Eswa said.

“I heard you came for a walk.”

“Yes.”

“Shouldn’t we find out if you didn’t steal your mother away somewhere?”

“…Yes?”

Hayer finally couldn’t hide his feelings, and he laughed. He thought he had left his mother behind, but now that he saw it, it was like paranoia.

As Hayer was still blocking the door with a hard look on his face, King Eswa said.

“Get out of the way. Do you think I’m going to harm my wife?”

“It can’t be.”

Hayer said and looked back at his sleeping mother.

He moved away but still stood at the door. Meanwhile, King Eswa sat next to Peona, who was asleep.

Hayer recalled what Peonia said earlier.

“It is unfortunate for a woman with desires to meet a man who destroys her desires.”

Was his mother’s words her own story?

Thinking so, the momentary return of his mother’s clear eyes made Hayer’s heart ache. 

Eswa was looking at Peonia’s face silently. Love, resentment, and desire were intricately intertwined in his eyes. It was the first time Hayer had seen such a look.

Hayer, who had lived for a while considering himself as his son, felt his heart skip a beat when he thought of a woman’s face.

He wondered if he had ever looked at Iris with those eyes. Has he ever tried to destroy her desires? But when he looked at her, he couldn’t read his own face.

Eswa, who sat down and watched Peonia for hours, came out. He found Hayer still standing there guarding his mother, gave him a glance, and left.

After Eswa left, Hayer also left the west building.

───  ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅  ───

The king’s younger brother, Kernin Lepos, was still wandering in the Traitor’s Labyrinth.

He didn’t have a perfect grasp of the condition of the maze, but he thought he knew which direction to go through. However, when he broke through the maze and entered somewhere, he would end up in a place he had not expected. Kernin Lepos’s nerves were sharpening due to continuous failure of judgement.

His right-hand man, Meppo Behad, said.

“Captain, you might want to take a break. If you tell me, I will cut down the wall.”

Kernin was unaware that the maze was moving. What angered him was the fact that he wasn’t born with the Lepos family’s ability to grasp this maze.

Kernin told Meppo.

“We’d better destroy the maze completely.”

“What?”

“Not all of the walls that were destroyed were restored. If you destroy it quickly and a lot, this maze will stop functioning.”

“Ca, Captain.”

Meppo hastily stopped Kernin from trying to cut the wall.

“Some of the traitors are indescribably cruel. If the maze goes wrong and they get out…”

“Wasn’t all I had to do was to get out of this maze?”

“That’s… right.”

The Kernin Lepos that Meppo knew was a man who ran only by looking at his goals. He knew that he was not a person who would even think about the sacrifices he had to make in the process.

But now, the Luwan people didn’t have a complete grasp of this maze, nor did they know for sure who was in it. It was even a maze so old that even its origin is unknown. Meppo was afraid to break such a maze.

However, Kernin seemed to intend to push ahead with the plan he had already made.

Eventually, Kernin began to break down the visible wall.

When the wall collapsed and fell to one side, the other wall began to collapse like dominoes again. Kernin rode on his horse and cut the wall again, then ran and cut the wall again.

There was a roar-like scream in the maze. At that time, Meppo’s horse couldn’t stand the long stress and began to run wild.

Meppo tried to appease him, but the horse abandoned him and disappeared somewhere. Kernin, who looked back at the fallen Meppo, said.

“Let’s go first.”

“What? Ca, Captain! Captain!”

Meppo called out urgently, but Kernin ran away quickly over the wall that collapsed like a domino.

Meppo sighed and checked his ankle as he returned to his horse.

Had it not been for the duel with Hayer Asheri, he would not have fallen off the horse, but he had no choice but to accept it because it had already happened.

He took a deep breath and straightened his ankle bone. He was blinded by the terrible pain.

Meppo, who put his bone back in place, hurried toward the direction Kernin left without any time to hesitate.

No matter how much he left behind, Meppo was the leader of the Royal Knights he had to serve and protect.

“Captain, I’m on my way…”

It was when he was trying hard to drag his broken body and muttering to himself words Kernin couldn’t even hear.

Meppo stopped, feeling someone slowly walking out of the maze between the broken walls. In the darkness created by the shadow on the wall, Meppo pulled out his sword and held it.

He identified himself first.

“I am Meppo Behad, the vice-captain of the Royal Knights. Who are you?”

“I am… wait a minute, I am…”

His voice sounded like he was about to go from a boy to a young man. And he was also a young man around the age of 20, who appeared to be of Meppo or Hayer’s age.

“Excuse me… I…”

The young man was whining about how difficult it was to take a few steps. He took out glasses that seemed to have been carefully stored and checked Meppo.

“Ah, you’re the Royal Knights.”

And Meppo’s eyes widened when he saw the young man’s appearance.

“…S-sage? Are you a sage?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

The sage, who had now been exterminated by the hands of King Eswa and was nowhere to be found in the land of Luwan, nodded broadly.

───  ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅  ───

Hayer went home and spent the night awake. Something was complicated in his head, and he had to meet Iris right away.

In his life, Hayer rarely had a complicated head and could not fall asleep. He wondered if he had learned even this insomnia from Iris.

Hayer, who returned to the east building in a tired state, took a deep breath. And as soon as he knocked, Iris rushed out of the room. Then she said with very tired eyes.

“Did we have something urgent to do?”

When he looked inside Iris’s bedroom, there were all kinds of dress fabrics hanging.

Hayer answered tactfully.

“Yes. Something very urgent is waiting.”

Then Agatha, Iris’s lady-in-waiting, came out and asked with wide eyes.

“How busy are you? More than preparing for a party? It’s not just a party, it’s a very important party to celebrate your trip to the Traitor’s Labyrinth, isn’t it?”

“Ah. Well, yes. More important.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I need to buy some jewellery.”

“……”

“The main character of the party can’t go in without jewels, right?”

Hayer continued, hiding Iris, whose legs were weak from exhaustion, by pulling her behind his back.

“You’ve already confirmed that Iris lacks jewellery, right?”

“Ah, finally.”

Agatha thanked Tilla for the fact that someone who understands her heart has finally appeared. Then she sent the two away and said.

“I think it would be good to choose the jewellery first and the colour of the dress.”

“Personally, I think green jewellery looks good.”

“…Is that so?”

“Or the colour of my eyes is fine.”

When Hayer tapped his eyes with his index finger, Agatha said.

“If you can get orange jewellery.”

“I have it. Since I was born, my mother has collected a few based on eye colours. There’s a very pretty opal in orange.”

“Oh my, that’s great!”

Thus, Agatha made a compromise by reassuring him, and Hayer took Iris out of the building.

Iris, who came out, said, feeling resentful.

“Why does Agatha accept what you say? She won’t listen to me at all.”

“What did you say?”

“I said I already have dresses and jewellery.”

“It’s not worth listening to.”

“Whose side are you taking now?”

“The side I want to side with.”

“But still, on my side…”

“I’m sorry, but I also want you to wear a fancy dress and fancy jewellery. Because my taste is fancy.”

Hayer responded deftly and grabbed Iris’s arm and put her arm around his. Iris didn’t seem to like something, but once she was out of Agatha’s attention, she was somewhat relieved.

Iris sighed deeply and opened her mouth.

“I have to write a letter again, to the King of Siere.”

“Then let’s go to my house and write.”

“Thank you. Ah, how was your visit to Her Majesty?”

When Iris asked, Hayer stopped walking without realizing it.

“Hayer?”

When Iris turned around, he looked at her.

Their eyes met for a moment, and Hayer opened his mouth.

“Does it really not matter who my father is?”